Legend of Drowning Girl
by Servant of Fire
Summary: Written for my friend. Ranma's girl form starts developing her own consciousness again, and forcibly leads him back to Spring of Drowning Girl. Ranma speaks with her reflection, to learn that she is Princess Zelda, one of the Peace Children. She has awoken to ask Ranma to help her save Link, her brother, from his cruel mistress Farore,who has made him her "Wolf Slave."DISCONTINUED
1. Prolouge

The **Legend of Drowning Girl~**

_She heard the fight above the water, spirit still alive somehow within the Spring. The footsteps, the voices, were coming her way._

_It had been the first time in 1400 years that Zelda could actually hear. As if the approach of the boy was bringing her slowly back to life._

_At first she thought that it could be Link come back for her. But then she remembered, that Link had sunk to the bottom of the Spring of Drowning Wolf, long ago, and she would never hear from him again, save maybe in Paradise._

_With hearing came memory. Her last few moments came rushing back to her at a blinding speed, sickly as a merry-go-round._

_She felt the pain stirring in whatever remained of her, and she cried out, a shout of her agony, that only came up in silent bubbles._

_She, and her twin brother, Link, were the sacrifices of the Goddesses, to end the Great War of Sheikan legend._

_The Peace Children._

_And now there was anger, a cold white wrath in whatever remained of her, dissolved in this water, like soap in a wash pot. _

_Because the Goddess Farore had not honored the sacrifice that was supposed to end the War._

_Because she had drowned a wolf in Link's spring the night before the sacrifice, and now...now..._

_Zelda screams again, exploding into inanimate pain._

_Her brother, courageous ,selfless...innocent Link... was the Wolf-Slave of Farore. Had been now for 1400 years._

_Suddenly Zelda's silent will for justice, is given a voice. Suddenly the fight inside her is given sinew, as a young boy's limbs thrash about on his way down into the cold waters._

_She feels a cold chill pass through her, for the first time in 1400 years._

_And for the first time in her spirit ( we can't say life, she does not live) she feels that mysterious thing she has longed for._

_Hope._

_Saeotome Ranma has fallen into the Spring of Drowning Girl._


	2. Chapter 1: Zelda Wakes

** Chapter One: Zelda Wakes~**

_Most of the time that she has been with him, Zelda has thought she was dreaming._

_She has grown to love and to hate the warrior-boy. Saotome Ranma, she has heard them say his name enough times to know it ...But to her, he is the Young Man, the man that reminds her very much of her brother, Link, in his exploits. But he doesn't talk like Link, not a bit. In fact she only "hates" him for his mouth. He torments his fiancée, the girl called Akane._

"Built like a brick, thighs too thick! Hair is slick, food makes me sick! Yadda yadda!" he chants, dodging her blows...

"Ranma, you, you!" she can't even swear at him, she is so angry.

"So, what, are you _actually _mad, uncute fiancée? Listen, I've told you loads of times, GHOSTS AREN'T REAL!"

_Zelda was really very tired today, of Ranma's teasing. But before it hadn't mattered so much...she was only dreaming. As far as she knew, the boy that gave her back her dreams, and this "Tough Girl", weren't even real._

_But she was also tired, having been one of the Peace Children, hearing that Ghosts weren't real. Her whole existence, her whole purpose in life (or the lack thereof!) was to be a spiritual ambassador between the" gods" and men. Ever since the war of Hyrule, that history the Sheikah had concealed in the Shadow Temple and in the Eye of Truth,this had been her purpose, her art, the virtue that made her what she is. Her creed and honor!_

_It was Link's purpose too. His sworn duty, as the prophesied Hero of the Hylilans..And had Farore not been a deceiving witch, he would have long ago fulfilled that destiny._

_And so to prove her existence, and her purpose...Zelda woke to reality. She was the Princess of Destiny,the Peace Ghost, born only to die for the honor of her people._

_As she woke to her calling, she realized what she had to do._

_The only way to ensure the peace, was to slay the trouble maker._

_For that she would need a god-slayer._

_For that reason she had been fused to Saotome Ranma, the boy that had killed the Phoenix god, who had threatened his Akane, and had turned her to a doll._

_Now, she would have to do something impossible._

_She was going to possess Ranma, be in control, be alive again for a moment..._

_For that she would need Akane, and her wrath._

"You're sexless and savage, but you still fight like a girl!" Ranma laughed.

"Let's see you fight like a girl!" Akane cried, and reached into the stream they had been fighting alongside, and splashed a huge handful of cold water on Ranma.

He changed to his girl form, and froze.

Akane struck a fighting pose. But Ranma was done fighting.

Mostly because he couldn't move.

"C'mon you...you..." (still too angry to curse him...) "Come on and fight!"

The girl form blinked, and reached up and touched her hair.

"My hair is red now, because Din marked me with her fire..." she says..."But I was a servant in the house of Nayru, and learned her wisdom."

(WHAT IS GOING ON?...Ranma shouted inside of his own head. WHY CAN'T I MOVE MY ARMS AND LEGS?!)

"WHAT? Put up your fists, I'm taking you down!"

"Why? I have no fight with you? I only fight for honor; not to settle lover's quarrels."

Suddenly, looking into the girl form's eyes, Akane saw Zelda looking back, and understood.

"Who? Who's speaking...Ranma...or someone else?" asked Akane, dropping her pose.

The girl form smiled, " I am the Drowning Girl."she explained.

Akane's jaw-dropped. Wondering, how this had happened,...how it was that they never thought this day would come?

Because it wasn't supposed to. Whoever this girl was ,she had drowned. Died. 1400 years ago.

"But...how?"

"Do you believe that ghost's aren't real?"

"No! Ranma doesn't think so, denies he's seen stuff too...but I've seen scary things!"

"But...you're talking to a spirit now, and you aren't afraid."

Akane smiled, never having thought it would be like this...encountering a ghost...

"No, I'm not..."

The girl form smiled.

"I can't have mastery over him for very long. He is too fierce, and foolish, arrogant, and he has a terrible tongue. We will need to learn to work together, if I am to have justice."

"Justice on who? Who are you; I don't even know your name?..."

She smiled, and suddenly her red hair bleached white-golden blonde, and her eyes turned blue like star-light, and she seemed to grow taller, and she was slender, and had elven ears.

" I am Princess Zelda of the Hylilians. The second of the Peace Children. And I am going to slay the witch Farore who has my brother ,Prince Link, under her spell. But for that...I will need the help of young warrior Tendo Akane."

Akane laughed, delighted.

"What can I do to help you?"

"Send me on my way to the accursed Spring that caused me to reappear. When I at last lose control over Ranma ,he will be in the place of my revival, and then...I will speak with him. Now he cannot hear my voice. He is young...and wild...Like a horse before it takes the bridle...Slayer of Phoenix gods or no, there is still much about the world that he has yet to learn."


	3. Chapter 2: The Legend of Jusenkyo

**Chapter 3: The Legend of Jusenkyo~**

Ranma gave a cry, as he is blasted by hot steam, coming from the pool of Drowning Fire.

"What? What the? What HAPPENED to me? One minute I'm with Akane, the next minute I'm..."

He looked around, and realized he was in Jusenkyo. Inwardly, he sighed.

"You'd think I had a directional curse or something. Gonna have to find P-chan, and beat the crap out of him."

He was imagining all the different ways he could dole out blows to his rival ,Hibiki Ryoga, when a voice startled him momentarily mindless, and he stood, yes, even Saotome Ranma stood petrified, heart beating like he'd seen a kitten, or heard a ghost. It was the latter.

_Son of Genma...His warrior child..._she says.

"WHO THE HECK ARE YOU?!" he shouts, and his voice is so loud, it makes the waters of Jusenkyo tremble with his fear that is turning to anger.

She laughs, her voice is like music. Suddenly, he actually does hear music...like a harp.

_Is the great warrior boy and slayer of Phoenix afraid of a Drowning Girl?_

And Ranma understands.

"You...are my other form..."

_Come to my Spring, Ranma-san..._

He follows her voice. She is not far from the pool of Drowning Fire. The pool of Drowning Ice is closer to her, and on her other side, parallel to her pool from the path, is the pool of Drowning Wolf, the second of the two Bleeding Eyes, as they are called in the legends of the Sheikah. Ranma knows nothing of this, of course. It all ended long ,long ago, before Jusenkyo even was, and long before the history of our world, though only a span of 1400 years lay between the boy and the girl he was about to come face to face with.

Spellbound-he wanders back to the place where he first was cursed. Looks down into the pool, surprised when it suddenly freezes over solid.

Suddenly, there she is as if she were his reflection. The red-headed girl form that he's come to call his own. The woman warrior that lead him to believe maybe females could perform martial arts, if only because he performed them himself whilst in her guise.

But suddenly, with a great effort, she stands up , a pillar of light, like a hologram ,on the face of the ice, and there suddenly is a frothing white fire about her feet, and she transforms, the same way that she did before Akane. And she is hollow, but clear as a diamond before him now.

Hair of white gold, eyes deeper than ocean blue, like living sapphire. Leaf-shaped, blade like ears. Dressed in the ninja armor of the Sheikah, purple trousers that come to her knees, a katana at her hip, breastplate made of steel, one that has the Truce-Gold emblazoned on the center, 3 triangles, standing on top of each other in a pyramid shape.

Ranma's jaw drops, and suddenly ,the crown of Din's fire circles her head, like a halo of twilight.

"You-you-you, don't look...nothing like...like me-like me when I'm you...errr..."

Zelda laughed, voice like music again, and he shut up and stared at her, and she smiled graciously on him.

"At last we meet, son of Genma."

"Why do you call me that?"

She laughs, " In my country, children were called by the names of their fathers until they had proved themselves in battle."

"HA! I KILLED THE PHOENIX GOD! WHAT MORE PROOF DO YOU NEED?!"

Zelda held up a hand, "Peace, son of Genma. That is exactly the reason why I believe you worthy for the task I am going to give you."

"Task? Pshh...assign me a job? You act like you're some kind of princess!"

"I am, indeed. I am Princess Zelda of the Hylilians. The female Peace Child. I was sacrificed to end one of the spirit wars before the creation of man, in this exact spot. That was the last and the greatest of the Wars, and after it, the Dark Sleep fell upon Eternity, till the High God spoke and remade the worlds. And so it was ,that He fashioned your kind, and gave spirits to be your protectors..."

Ranma stared, blinking stupidly at her, and she laughed again.

"All in due time, human child! Yes, I have a mission for you. A challenge, if you like. Or call it a favor, a peace offering. Some of things you've used my body for haven't been to my liking..."

Ranma shrugged, "Well,technically it was my body at the time."

"technically it has always been my body. If you don't help me, I will force-revert to my form with you trapped like before, and eat Akane's cooking. Great piles of it. You might never recover."

"Holy! Ok, ok, -I'm in! Who am I taking down?"

Zelda smiled, foxishly.

"Farore. The Goddess of Courage...once. The witch, the dragon hunter, that botched the sacrifice. Look to your left hand."

Ranma turned.

"What am I looking at ,princess?"

"That is the Spring of Drowning Wolf. Originally, it was the left of the Bleeding Eyes. The Bleeding Eyes were two pools of water, that the Three Hylilian Queens, that were great spirits and were thus called "goddesses" dug. The lesser king of the Hylilians, my father, who ended the Brother's War of Hylia, at the command of the Three Queens, took his children, twins, a boy by the name of Link, a girl, that's me, Zelda, to the two Goddesses Springs. There before the entire kingdom, his warriors, the Sheikah, guardians of Hylia, bearing witness, he sacrificed us, causing us to fall from great gallows into the two springs. Our hearts were pierced, so that when we fell and drowned, our blood would fill the two pools. And the pools would run over bloody tears, and from that day forward they were called the Bleeding Eyes, the cursed spring. If any of the people were to try and break the truce, they would be forced to drink of the Bleeding Eyes, and they would feel the death of Link and of Zelda, and so they would wander lost in the Void in the death agonies of others, and their suffering, being not their own, would never end...

Farore, who had called the Peace Counsel, and had determined that the sacrifice would be the only way to truly end the War...cheated and lied. She is a witch, and cannot be trusted-unworthy of her throne! She cast a wolf into the Eye before you, my brother's pool, and when he drowned, his soul was bonded with the wolf-creature, not so very different, but not exactly the same as the creature of that name in your world. His blood filled its teeth,and she made him her slave. When he is struck with cold water, wherever his spirit roams...he will become the Wolf, and must do her bidding...It was she who sent him after my father, King Ganon, to destroy him. For she has always wanted our family power..." she pointed then to the emblem on her breastplate.

"The Crown Gold of Hylia, a mystical gold that has the essence of creation woven into its metal. Because there were 3 pieces, it was often called the "Triforce". My father, Ganon, had the "Golden Omnipotence" also known as the "Triforce of Power.". I was given the "Crown of Love", also known as the "Triforce of Wisdom". My brother owns the last piece, the Crown of Sacrifice, also known as the "Triforce of Courage".

My brother's soul may be captive of the Witch-Queen, but his heart does not belong to her. Even though she sends him on foolish missions to hunt my father, (whom she cursed into the form of a wicked dragon creature, sometimes walking in the form of a pig), he works against her, when he can. He has found, by sheer grace, the Flute of Time, that the Spirit of Time had woven into creation, should the balance be too greatly disturbed for the current day to bear. Using this weapon, he has cursed himself to wandering throughout time, always hunted by her, always under the fear of her sword, that she calls, the Master's Sword. But he will not strike the Dragon, and rather, draws the curse into his blood , that is animated with a dark and a twisted version of his life, and roams the earth in a wraith form. This form is called "Shadow Link" not even you could beat him! But we may have to try and capture the Shadow, if we are going to find his creator, my brother, the "Curse Binder" the "Hero of Time"."

Ranma stared, trying to process all that he had just been told.

"So...we're going on a mission to...find a werewolf guy, a huge pig, and a witch? And which one of them do I get to kill?!"

Zelda sighed, "The Witch. We have to kill the Witch, haven't you been listening?"

Ranma smiled, "Got yourself a deal, princess! Now where do we go first."

"Into Hell."

"Alright...wait, WHAT?!"


	4. Chapter 3: Ranma Whole Equals Sheik

** Chapter 4: Ranma Whole= Sheik~**

Ranma didn't know how he got himself into half the messes he did.

Currently, he was standing, at the edge of a forest that bordered Jusenkyo in the mountains, one that he hadn't know about , and probably shouldn't have missed, until today. He was in his boy form, and the shiny,flittering light holographic rendering of the owner of his girl form stood beside him, a hand on her sword.

"Through this tunnel, beyond these white birch trees. This is the doorway into Farore's hell. In the days before the coming of Men, it was called the "Lost Wood". This is the purgatory,the eternal prison, of all those who are bound to Farore's accursed power...It is also the resting place of the accursed Master's Sword, that holds the deceptive benevolence of the goddesses in its blade, but is really a creation of evil, meant only to destroy."

Zelda turned to Ranma, who, for once, had shut up, head swimming with trying to process what was going on.

" To enter the wood, without coming under its curse, one must take on a different form. A "Cloaking" Form, one that the Witch cannot see, cannot understand, and therefore cannot bind..."she began slowly.

"What are you talking about, Princess?" Ranma asked, jaw hanging open, a fly going up his throat, and making him hack for a moment, trying to put the digits together, to figure it out. One second he was fighting with Akane, as per usual. The next second, he's been swept off to Jusenkyo, basically press-ganged into his girl form's justice quest, and now he's standing at the gates, or rather folded scary branches, of Hell itself, and his girl form is saying something about tricking witches, and another form. He fears possibly sharing a fate with Pork-butt, or maybe worse...a similar fate as Shampoo. The thought of a cat...of becoming the thing he hated the most...

"What I'm saying, Ranma -san, is that we should fuse our forms into one ,genderless, disguised form. A cloaked form, a spirit that will be invisible to Farore, because there is no accursed power creating it that she can understand. Rather it will be you, and me, working together...Like symbiot animals; have you ever seen those? Sometimes two birds, or two fish, of different kinds, such as a robin and a sparrow, or a trout and a shrimp, will live together for the same goals. With my power, the Crown of Love,the Triforce of Wisdom, we can combine your man-form, and my woman-form, into a genderless form. One consciousness that has your martial arts abilities ,which exceed mine, and pretty much every other soul that ever walked the earth, and my wisdom, which ,admittedly, has no equal."

"So you're saying Ranma One-Half boy plus Ranma One-Half girl equals some sexless,savage mutant freak thing that can beat the witch? What the HECK have I gotten myself into, you pointy-eared ,shaman-wanna-be, psycho?"

Zelda smiled, not offended. Usually people were offended by Ranma, it was a way he egged a fight on. She wasn't though. She was actually smiling. It was unnerving.

"It's either this or "Specialty Soup by Akane"..."

"HOLY! OK-ok...I'll do it. Errr...how do we do it?"

Zelda let out a "Hup!" sound, and held up her right hand. A golden triangle began to blaze like he sun beneath her knuckles.

Ranma felt himself blown about 10 feet back, and then being pulled in like by a magnet, ( gold wasn't magnet?), into the light, into whatever insanity befell him next.

"Whatever it is-just not a kitty-Please not a kitty! PlEASE, ANYTHING BUT A KITTY!"

But in the end it was not a kitty. There was a long white pause, like floating through a dream, that you had when lying under a tree in Eternity, deep peace...like he'd never known before, a heart flowing over with love for somebody...not a fiancée, like a sibling..like a brother...Wisdom, deep, heavy thoughts, Ranma felt like his soul was full of clear, cold water. Yet that fierce warrior that he had always been, with the quick-witted retort, was still alive inside him too...It was as if their souls had somehow melted together, Ranma and the Drowning Girl, and when they woke up:

"Sheik." said a voice, higher-pitched for a man, but too deep for a woman's. A combination of Zelda's voice, and his own.

He looked down at ,for lack of a better word ,itself.

He was wearing a full body suite of ninja armor, and had a strange white mask surrounding his darker skin. He reached up, and could feel his hair was not the same, it was bleached, a white gold color, and glowed as if it had light in it. He wheeled around, looking at himself, trying to find something to mirror him.

_It's ok..._said Zelda's voice, like the voice of his thoughts would, _Cold water can't change you back, neither can hot. Only my power can, I will let you go when you need to be released..._

Ranma got an idea. If cold water couldn't change him back, then he could look at his reflection with it.

They weren't terribly far from Jusenkyo. Surrounding the Lost Woods, were little puddles.

He ran up to one, and looked down.

He was met with the reflection of a masked young ninja, with eyes as red as garnet stones, the birth stone of January. Something about it...as cold as the heart of winter too, but skin was dark ,as if they'd always lived in the desert.

He touched his face, with a bandage wrapped finger, half gloved hand.

"Ranma Whole equals Sheik..." said his new voice again.

He felt his chest,beneath the light coat of chain-mail, and it was as flat as a man's.

There was nothing between his legs but skin. He curled a brow at this, a bit confused.

"Ranma and Zelda equals Sheik."


	5. Chapter 4: He Is Shadow

**Chapter 4: He Is Shadow~**

The Lost Wood was apply named.

Ranma wandered in the form of Sheik, for what may have been days, what may have been eternity, he didn't know. All he could remember was this ongoing music in the back of his mind, faint and far away, and lonely too, for the faces of friends, or of kin. He started hallucinating, seeing Akane at every turn,and over there Kasumi, and over there Hibiki Ryoga.

No, that really was Hibki Ryoga over there. Figures P-Chan would be right at home in the place of eternal wandering...

"Ranma?!" Ryoga gasped, turning about in a 360, and spinning in a 180 again to face his rival. "What are you doing in Finland? And WHERE is that weird music coming from? Crazy Reindeer People!"

"Actually, we're in the Lost Wood,in the mountains around Jusenkyo..."

"Lost Wood around Jusenkyo ?...And...you look weird...SAOTOME RANMA ! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! PREPARE TO DIE!"

Ryoga struck a fighting pose, in preparation to kill Ranma. Business as usual.

Zelda decided to intervene this time. Sheik made a "Hup!" sound,and lifted one hand, and a golden light began to shine out of his palm.

_"Listen to my voice..." _spoke Zelda out of Sheik..."_I am the spirit of Princess Zelda of Hylia, the Maiden Peace Child...I am the spirit of Drowning Girl..._

_Please...I have come claim the soul of my brother Link The Wanderer from the hands of Farore...Hibiki Ryoga...I ask you to help me..."_

There was silence , a long and awkward silence.

"You heard the Lady." Ranma spat ,speaking out of Sheik, at last, annoyed by the silence, and by the look of shock and awe on Ryoga's face.

"What..? What the? You...THAT WASN'T YOU, RANMA!"

"No, it was Zelda. Girl form has learned how to talk for herself...She's uhh...needs me. My help."

Ryoga blinked...

"She...the Drowning Girl...needs my help too...I'll do it for the Lady!" he gasped.."But you're still in there, Ranma! Because of you I've seen hell! And I've got to kill you! _SHI SHI HOKODAN!" _he cried at the top of his lungs.

A sphere of energy formed in his hand, but it never reached its mark.

There was a wicked laughter, like the merry-making of a thousand devils ,from somewhere in the forest.

Then out from under a tree, having been resting in the darkness, rose a shadow. A shapeless shadow. The energy hit it, and it began to shiver, quaking like the surface of water right before the dam breaks...

"Well, well,well..If it isn't Genma's little bastard and the Pig Boy!" said a voice...a horrible, dark voice...a voice like a spirit drowned in smoke.

And suddenly a man stepped forth from that shadow. One that looked very much like Zelda, only as a man, but the whites of his eyes were teary red ,as if smoke had wafted in his face, and his hair was grey and matted like a vulture's down. He was dressed entirely in black like the clothes that ninjas wear, and had on a long amethyst cloak, and he had a belt made from a serpent's spine, the skull of which wrapped over his shoulder and sat on his chest, right above his heart. When he smiled his teeth were like a wolf's teeth. The air about him flickered, and sometimes flames would shoot into thin air from around him, immediately to disappear.

"_ WHY DO YOU COME HERE, WRAITH OF ASHES! GO DOWN TO THE BELLY OF HELL! DRINK DEEPLY OF BLOOD; GO BACK TO SLEEP!" _Zelda's voice shouted from Sheik's lips.

"None but the Prince of Shadows may command me ,witch of Nayru!" hissed the demon, and turned on her, lifting his hand, starting to strangle her...

Ranma reacted at lighting speed, "_MOKO TAKABISHA!" _he shouted.

The shadow put up a hand, and caught the attack mid air..."Mmm...this...your soul...the very life inside you...Let's see...what you're all about, eh?"

He suddenly twisted the shape until it was a living, beating heart within his hands. Ranma heard himself screaming in pain before he realized what was happening. Saw Ryoga gaping in horror, heard the music in the background turn to pipes and drums ,as if summoning a dragon from his grave. As the shadow's teeth sunk down into the very pulsating life of Saotome Ranma, and began to drink, straining as much blood from his veins as he could muster, without actually causing him to die.

The heart burned to ashes in the Shadow's hands...His eyes began to flicker, and suddenly he transformed into a Panda, whose teeth were filled with the ribs of a horse, and these were dribbling blood everywhere. The blood began to cry out with the voice of Nodoka, mourning for her child...But crying "S_eppuku ,Seppuku! MY SON SHALL DIE, A MAN NO MORE!" _And there was a voice that sounded like Genma saying, "You are no warrior...you failed me...You are nothing but dust..."

Ranma didn't understand. His dad was too stupid to even come up with such a sentence? But then the image changed,and this one was more horrible.

It was Akane, standing in front of him, in a wedding dress...Akane, his actually beautiful "uncute" fiancee...Her veil was cast back, and her face was painted ghostly white, like one would a geisha...

Her lips were dripping blood, and her stomach was torn out. White lace was splattered in violent red. But her arms could be seen, the sleeves torn away from her dress, and they were made of porcelain, and cracked and smouldering in places, showing that under all the blood, she was really nothing more than a doll...

"Are you going to marry me, and put all of it right, you PERVERTED FREAK?!" she spat. Her wedding dress began to burn away, and suddenly she was wearing the clothes of a geisha, and Ranma saw thousands of spirits in the likeness of men coming to her, and he knew their intentions for her, and they were so horrible his mind couldn't even conjure that.

Ranma has never known a rage like he did in that moment. But he couldn't move. His body had momentarily frozen ,as if turned to stone, so much of his blood drained from him, and in the bottom of that demon's belly!...

But suddenly a light like dawn pierced through the wandering veil of the forest, and there was an aura of green, and the sound of a bow singing in the air.

Ranma looked up, and he felt his throat close.

As a man who looked exactly like Zelda, if she had been a man, with white-gold hair, and eyes of fearsome blue, who was dressed in dark green, clothes like a samurai warrior would wear, and had on a strangely shaped green hat, skin so white he looked like he was made of pure silver, ears like blades in their fine points, came tearing through the forest.

With a white yew bow he shot the very center of the shadow, and it froze, its tongue turning to solid ice, and thrusting out of his mouth, in a tiny blade-like glacier.

"Down, snake, down! Back in your cage!" Link cried, sliding to a stop, and beating a hand against his chest.

There was a small triangle of solid gold on the back of this hand, burning like the dawn with light.

"MASTER, PLEASE MASTER! PLEASE DON'T DRAW ME INTO YOUR VEINS ,MASTER! THE WOLF IS AWAKE IN YOU, WITH NAYRU'S MOON! HE WILL SWALLOW ME ALIVE, AND TEAR ME PIECE FROM PIECES!"

"Oh, this I know. Which is why I send you out to meet him...A black sheep at the mercy of the wolf..."

Link grit his teeth, and Ranma could see that two of his teeth were fangs made of solid steel,and little sparks emitted from them. The shadow wailed like a loss child, and drew into a cloud, sobbing pitifully, and began to slither on the ground like a snake...

"Mmmmmaster...Puhpuhpuhpleeeeeasssseeee!"

"Stop your sniveling, wretched serpent...Into your cage, and let's have this over with!"cried Link, eyes flashing. He blinked and lighting surged from the eyes of blue, flashing about the forest in a silent reflection, like light off the end of a magnifying glass reflects. The Shadow screamed, drew up, and flew into Link's chest.

It reached up wailing, clutching at Link's ribs like a prisoner does the bars of his cage...

"MERCY,MASTER! MERCY!"

"You won't get any mercy from me! My soul is more lost than your own, being I am your creator!" Link shouted.

Suddenly, the forest began to grow dark.

Ranma heard Zelda weeping quietly in his head.

Ryoga shouted something Ranma couldn't make out, and Link fell to his knees, screaming in unfathomable pain, a wail that was hollow, as if he was used to this, a soul that would be better off damned and in chains...

Suddenly the wailing turned into a growl...and there on the ground lay thrashing not a man, but a wolf, with bright blue eyes.

"_Farore, what have you done?!"_ Zelda cursed.

Ranma didn't know what exactly was going on...or who this guy was. But...he had...saved him... in a way. Saved him from the horrific wraith of his beloved Akane. And for that, if only for that, he had the eternal respect of the young warrior. In one moment, Ranma realized that he really ,really ,really _CARED _about this guy...and he was going to help him. He was going to defeat the Wolf.


	6. Chapter 5: Taming The Wolf

**Chapter 5: Taming The Wolf~**

Ranma was very quick to love his new form as Sheik.

The wolf had risen up on shaking knees, quaking with wrath at Farore's chains, and turned on him with eyes that shone like lightning, and began to foam at the mouth ready to do so much more than kill him.

Ryoga immediately struck a fighting pose to help Ranma take this monster, but Sheik was a few strides ahead of him.

For as Sheik , Ranma was indeed truly whole. He had all of the skills that he did in his boy form, with two fold the strength as his forms were combined, with two-fold grace as the the girl-form's natural gracefulness was merged with his boy form's greater strength, into something supernatural. He did a swan dive straight through the air before he even began to ponder how to fight the wolf. He was spinning doing semi-circle flips in the air, like a master acrobat when he lets go of his trapeze handle.

He landed on the back of the wolf like one would a horse's back, and took two fistfuls of mane. The beast roared. The wrangling had begun.

Ryoga stopped and stared, totally dumbstruck for a moment. But very quickly he realized he could be of help in bringing down the monster in another way. He might not actually need to try and also fight it. But it was trying to carry Ranma off into the Lost Wood like a wild bronco does a foolish wrangler, and he couldn't get away if Ryoga completely blocked the path.

Ryoga leaped into the air, and did a high kick against a tree. Causing said tree to collide with another tree, which caused that tree to fall into a huge pile of rocks, creating a mini landslide. The wolf slave screamed, as he hit the rocks full on his nose. He tossed his head like a wild bull steer, but like dogs do he began to dig, letting a keening, blood-bubbling howl.

As Sheik, Ranma felt another energy flowing through him that he couldn't quite express...It wasn't exactly the same as when he let "Moko Takabisha" flow through him. This was something like sunlight streaming through his blood, golden virtue. Zelda's virtue. Not really knowing why he did so...(it wouldn't have been something Ranma One Half would have done) he began to hum softly, almost like a low singing chant, ominous and all at once encouraging. The wolf beneath him began to act drugged, like bees do when the keeper billows smoke into the hive. Then he thrust his palm down into its skull making a deep throated "Hup!" sound.

He felt"Moko Takabisha" and the "Golden Power" flow through him in one entwined colum. So strongly that it blasted him backwards, and out of the Sheik form, where Ranma One Half went sailing through the air, and collided back against the chest of Ryoga, who was in the middle of blindly, ferociously rapid-punching a tree so that it would crack in half and break, not even blinking at all the splinters that were flying up at him.

Ranma, Ryoga, and the tree went "timber",all the way to the floor of the Lost Woods, not knowing what had hit them.

Ranma slowly sat up, feeling his pigtail swing in the air, and his boy version arms aching as if he'd been swimming against an impossible current. One eye was swelled shut, bruised by Ryoga's fist for once accidentally colliding with it. Ryoga sat up with him, and spat leaves and tree and bolder pieces out, gaping at the scene before them.

The angelic phantom of Zelda floated out of the air, like soap suds roosting, and came to hover over the body of the boy with the white yew bow, who lay in the midst of a wolf's smoking bones, charred from thousands of heedless wars, blistered by unseen flames, comatose and barely breathing.

"He needs...a healer." Zelda breathed.

"Dr. Tofu!" Ranma cried, and ran forward, and reached and scooped the boy up onto his shoulders.

" Yeah! We'll take him to Dojo Tendo!" Ryoga gasped..." Now...how do we get there from the Amazon?"

Ranma face palmed. "Toldya'ready! We're in the Lost Wood! Speaking a which, Zelda, can you lead us outta here?"

Zelda closed her eyes, and folded her hands as if in prayer,

"Hiyaah...!" she gasped, and swung her arms out like wings, "Hut!" she gasped, slapping her hands together.

A heat wave of golden light rolled over the destroyed forest floor, cutting a path for them that blended right with the path that lead to Tendo Soun's doorstep.

Tendo Kasumi stood in her father's garden, watering vegetables. She turned about, a look of surprise on her face, as the portal closed, and Ryoga, a beautiful angel-elven princess ghost, and Ranma with a sick boy draped over his shoulders were left standing there.

"Oh my!" Kasumi gasped, and then smiled brightly, setting her water jar aside. "Here ,let me help. "


	7. Chapter 6: Nayru's Falling Star

**Chapter 7: Nayru's Fallen Star~**

Ranma stood awkwardly, watching Dr. Tofu bind up the wounds, and mythical burns on the elven boy's arms and legs.

" Look how well he's sustained all this damage! He really is healthy!" Dr. Tofu cried with a smile, and then blushed when he saw Kasumi standing at the foot of Link's bed, watching the doctor perform his healing arts on the strange boy.

"Healthy? Him? Talk about stupid! He swallowed a shadow-spirit, turned into a wolf, then we dropped trees and stuff on him, and now he's a roasty toasty marshmallow boy!" Ranma growled, annoyed.

"Ranma, that is _rude!" _Kasumi scolded.

Something in the sound of her voice, turned the boy's face her way. His eyes began to flutter.

Then with a flash of lightning glancing off the walls of a spare room in Dojo Tendo, Link's supernaturally blue eyes flashed open.

For a long moment he stared at no one but Kasumi. And she stared back, and there was a strange look on her face, as if she had just remembered something she had forgotten a long time ago.

"Oh!" cried Tendo Soun, who was leaning in the doorway, suddenly teary eyed, "She remembers!"

"Remembers..what? What's wrong with her?" asked Akane, mouth falling open, suddenly scared.

Link sat up, looking like a mummy with all the bandages wound around his chest and arms.

"Ah!" the elven boy gasped, and swallowed, "Forgive me, I haven't any memory of how I came into the house of Nayru's Falling Star, the Lady of Grace and Eternal Beauty!"

Dr. Tofu blushed, agreeing with every word Link was saying. He wasn't jealous because Link wasn't flirting. The young man, probably about 17, was very reverent in everything he was saying.

"How...how did you know? Only my father and mother knew that?" Kasumi asked, blushing slightly.

Suddenly Zelda materialized in the room, to Link's delight. "We are Nayru's servants, and she was our friend before the great wars. We would definitely remember the light of her star, even if we don't recognize the face of the maiden child it was born into."

"What the heck is going on?" Ranma gasped. And all eyes turned to look his way.

"On the night that Kasumi was born, a strange light began to glow out of her, blue as heaven in a cloudless day. We thought it was just the baby's precious grace. Then a beautiful spirit came to us and told us that it was a special blessing she had put in the pure and gentle heart of Tendo Kasumi, to be the bearer of Nayru's Fallen Star, a light she was trying to protect from evil mercenary witches who wanted it. They roam the earth ,disguised as men...sometimes making deals with fools to get it. It is simple, they stake their claim for a prize as a right to the hand in marriage of Tendo Soun's eldest daughter, staked against untold riches in a game of chance or cards. But on the day of the wedding, they will transform again into their true forms, and sacrifice Tendo Kasumi on a great pyre , to kill the light of Nayru's falling star." Soun explained, his face going white.

Akane shrank against Ranma, who waved a dismissive hand in the air, "Like that's ever gonna happen!"

"Not while I live!...errr." Link gasped, throwing back his sheets.

"I swear to you on the Golden Power within me, Tendo Kasumi, to be your guardian in this life and the next, and I will never allow the rod nor the staff of witchcraft to harm you!" Link cried.

He kissed her hand elegantly.

Ranma couldn't help it. He _really _liked this little freak.

"Me and P-chan can take care of them! " Ranma laughed, shaking his head, like this was nothing but stupidity. Ryoga stood thoughtful, and seeming to gather a black mood, and Dr. Tofu began to wonder if he knew something the other's didn't.

Ranma looked out of the corner of his eye, just in time to see Genma lingering by the doorway, chewing his nails like he might have done something for which he needed to be guilty.

" _Uh oh...what did he screw up now?" _Ranma thought.


	8. Chapter 7: A Fool's Bargain

**Chapter 7: A Fool's Bargain~**

Ryoga turned and gave Ranma a dark look, right about the time that Dr. Tofu was making Link lay back down.

"I think...I'm gonna go off and do..something...really evil." Ryoga said, and smiled grimly, and pushed Ranma out of his way, walking towards the door.

Ranma and Akane exchanged a look, and then started to follow him.

"Will he be alright, Dr. Tofu?" Akane asked, meaning Link.

"Kasumi and I will look after him." he replied, very happy to be left alone with Kasumi.

With a nod, Akane began to follow Ranma.

Ranma had a feeling in the pit of his gut that something really, really bad was about to happen. When_

"COME CLEAN ,YOU SORRY OLD FOOL!" they heard Ryoga shout, in a back alley of the village. They heard a loud smashing sound, and a barrel of fish breaking into bits.

Ranma made Akane lean back so she wouldn't be seen, and then very carefully he leaned around the corner.

To see that Ryoga had cornered Genma in the alley,and had dropped a whole stack of crates on him, to get him to sit still for even only just a minute, and listen to him.

"What was that bargain you made with that old Hurdy Gurdy player a few nights back?! I saw you,you fat ,stupid panda!"

"Acck! It's my dad! I knew it!" Ranma whispered ,harshly.

"What?" Akane asked, eyes gone wide.

"My dad...Screwed up...Big time!" Ranma leaned around the corner, and suddenly had enough hiding. He leaped into the middle of the alley, striking a fighting pose in case Ryoga tried to attack him.

"What the heck did ya do now, Dad?!" he cried, his face contorting in suspicious anger since he might already know.

"I...I..I.."

"SPIT IT OUT YOUR FURRY BUTTED FREAK!" Ryoga shouted, raising a fish as if to pummel Genma with it. The cold water on the fish, would turn Genma into a Panda if it touched him.

"I traded an engagement ring to the Hurdy Gurdy player on the outskirts of the village, for a map to untold riches I could find through his maze. I didn't bother to read the terms and agreements on the map. But I did promise him the hand of Tendo Soun's eldest daughter, as long as he remembered the ring. It was a magic one, Cologne found,...and meant to give to Kasumi...on her 21st birthday."

"Oh MY GOD!" Ryoga shouted. "Did you, did you know about that star blessing thing that Soun was talking about? Did you know about it before or after you made the deal?"

"BEFORE! But he was so small. I knew between the four of us,you, me, Ranma and Soun, that we could take him for sure. Kasumi has nothing to worry about!"

"Talk about stupid! What if that man was one of the witches Soun was talking about in disguise?" Ranma cried, outraged.

Suddenly there was a low, ominous sound of horns, and a glaringly hot wave of fire.

"Link! Link the Wolf Slave of Farore!" cried a harsh voice. "Show me your face!"

Link leaped into the center of the village, drawing out his bow.

"I swear on my bones, by the soul of Nayru! You will not harm the girl! But you can take me instead!" he cried, staggering , wounded terribly already.

Akane gasped, suddenly madly angry, "GENMA ,YOU JERK! THIS IS YOUR FAULT!"

Ranma could feel Zelda's thoughts inside of him. Each half of him knew what they were going to have to do...


	9. Chapter 8: Ranma Makes a Deal

**Chapter 8: Ranma Makes a Deal~**

There were screams, and shouts of outrage, as suddenly ,into the village, astride cursed flaming wolves, rode a Fire Witch that was none other than the false goddess Din, along with all of her henchmen.

Nabiki gave a cry, and came running outside, waving her arms.

"What are you doing here?I don't recall having any business with you?" she screamed, enraged.

Din laughed..."No, Mercenary Girl. I would not do business with one so clever. It was Saotome Genma that made deals with me." she held up Cologne's magic ring.

The old amazon gave a shriek. "My ring! How...did you come by it? It was set aside for Kasumi, to be a special birthday present!"

"Oh yes, all you of put aside your differences, and shape up your manners, for Tendo Soun's precious eldest daughter , don't you? And no wonder...The girl's life is charmed from the moment of her birth, when my sister, Queen Nayru of the Sky,bestowed her falling star upon her...It is this star...that I have come for. I know you to be a race of warriors, and anything goes with you. So then, I know that I don't have to mince my words. Stand aside, all of you. I am going to roast the bones of Tendo Kasumi on the Altar of Fire, and so rid the earth of Nayru's light! If you think you can stop me, you may try. But this fire is so hot, it consumes dragons in a moment, unless I command it to burn everlasting. You will not prevail!"

Two of Soun's students leaped forward to stop her, but she blasted them with a fistful of fire, and just as she said, they lay thrashing on the ground in a flame so hot, it caught the buildings behind them on fire. A few people ran screaming out of that place,and came to stand in the center of the town.

"No, you witch! As the son of Ganon,King of Hylia, I have right to speak!" Link shouted. All of the towns people fell silent. Ranma held his breath, trying to think of any other way out of this than the one Zelda had just come up with.

"As a Servant of Nayru, I will go into the fire ,in place of Tendo Kasumi, and so appease your rage,...You will take your fire far away from here, and it will never touch this place again. I make this agreement with you in the name of the Golden Power!"

"Oh, precious little king!" Din chuckled, cracking her fire whip across the sky. "A Golden Power oath I _am _obliged to answer, this is true. But I'm afraid your sacrifice is futile. See the spell of fire I have cast requires a _girl's _body to go into the blaze..."

Ryoga shook his head, and struck a fighting pose, "Ah, c'mon! A whole mountain can fall on me and not hurt me...Let's fight this out, you and me, witch!" he cried.

"My spell must be appeased. No matter of force can stop it now." Din laughed, as if this was all gold.

"Bring forth Tendo Kasumi, or all of your friends die."

Soun was crying buckets now, and Nabki was tearing at her hair. Akane was crying ,and clenching her fists, wanting to fight. Dr. Tofu had reached out, and taken Kasumi's hand protectively. Gently she tried to shake him off.

"Father, let me."

"Oh, Kasumi! We appreciate your sacrifice...but...I can't!" Soun cried.

"Pl-please...Kasumi...N-NO!" Akane pleaded.

The fear and pain in Akane's voice. The looks of terror on the people's faces. Knowing Ryoga was no match for this goddess, (heck look what happened when the Phoenix god came around!) Knowing this brave guy Link couldn't do it because he was only a guy...Ranma knew what he had to do now. Knew there wasn't any other way. It wasn't his first instinct, but he had honor to maintain, it was his DAD that had gotten them into this mess after all. That and he had promised himself Akane would never be put at risk again. Ever.

"_Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" _ he thought to Zelda.

"_Tracking with you all the way, son of Genma."_ she replied.

"Don't worry, Kasumi. I've got this!" he laughed, taking a few strides forward.

He reached and took the cool wet rag supposed to treat his injuries that Link had draped over his shoulders, and he slapped himself with it. Instantly transforming into his girl form.

"Yo' Blue Blazes!" he cried, and Din looked at him, mouth falling open.

"Princess Zelda? I thought I had already taught you my lesson, foolish girl."

Zelda's voice spoke out of Ranma's girl form just then,

"By the power of the Golden Power, I swear you to an oath. That you will accept me, a Servant of Nayru, as sufficient payment for your spell, and will burn my maiden flesh in place of Tendo Kasumi!"

"RANMA!" Akane shrieked in horror.

Kasumi shook her head, and that was the first time anyone ever remembered a single tear form in her eyes. She placed a hand over her mouth, and her dad came and hugged her.

"Ranma! What the HECK are you doing?" Ryoga shouted, never one to allow Ranma to be endangered, despite trying to kill him all the time.

" Don't get me wrong, everybody! I could take this witch! I could take this witch and all her little gargoyle friends, trapped under six feet of concrete,with my hands and feet tied up_it wouldn't even slow me down! But I made myself a promise! Akane and her family will never be put at risk again. EVER again." Ranma cried, fists clenching, wanting to fight, but for once he knew he must not.

He turned defiantly to the witch.

"It's gonna take more than a little bonfire to do me in. Hey, does anybody have any marshmallows? Now might be a good time to break them out."

"Ranma?" Akane asked, suddenly in tears.

But Ranma wasn't about to budge.

He turned around and saw Link, whose mouth had fallen open in absolute horror.

And somehow he knew that he had earned the eternal respect of the boy with the white yew bow in that same hour...


	10. Chapter 9: Zelda Equals Phoenix

**Chapter 9: Zelda Equals Phoenix~**

Ranma never thought dying would be like this. Being chained to a huge stake, that had stacks of bamboo rods piled under it like a mile high. He was two miles high ,definitely.

All of his friends were staring up at him. Slack jawed and sorry, some of them in tears. Ranma saw that even Ryoga, who had pretty much hated him all his life, was crying buckets. He wondered for a brief second if they could have been friends now...if he wasn't chained to a stake in his girl form , about to be roasted, that is.

Link was shaking his head, begging the witch for an alternative.

"You can use your magic, turn me into a woman. Just...don't..."

"No, Prince Link, I am sorry. The thing is done now."Din replied, lifting her fire rod.

"Noble hearted Princess Zelda, prepare to die!" she called, and with a chuckle, she waved the fire rod.

"No, no, NO!" Akane begged, and took a leap forward, fists swinging at the air. Nabiki caught her by the waist of her pants, otherwise she would have toppled right into the everlasting fire with Ranma.

He cringed. He had felt a lot of pain in his life , but never any like this, and the fire hadn't even reached him yet!

"RANMA!" Akane wailed, "NO!"

Something very unexpected happened then. Ranma was just closing his eyes, trying to drowned out Akane's screams...

"_Ah just go ahead and kill me so I don't have to hear her hollerin' anymore!" _he complained inside his head.

When a savage, searing, desperate pain, enough to drive even the mightiest of warriors completely insane, and make Phoenix Gods cry like little girls, coursed through his entire body. His teeth grit. Saotome Ranma didn't cry out. Wasn't gonna give that freaky witch the satisfaction of a scream.

After awhile he couldn't breath. He was hoping that meant he was dead, so this would be over now. But the pain just got worse, and worse, and worse. His bones turned to charcoal inside of him.

So! much! PAIN!

But then there was a blinding golden light, from out of the fire. At first Ranma thought maybe it was an angel or something coming to take him to heaven.

" _I figured this out the first time Din tried to kill me with fire..."_ said Zelda's voice in his mind, somewhat labored, as she also was experiencing the maniac pain."

Ranma felt an explosion out of his back, and wondered maybe if that wasn't his soul getting away. But then, huge golden wings, swept around him, and gathered up the fire of his terrible pyre.

He gasped, and opened his eyes, daring to look at his body now.

He was clothed in armor of iron, and rubies, and his hair was white gold like Zelda's. He had two samurai swords on his belt, and his shoes were boots that could hover over the ground. His head was crowned in a halo of eternally hot, ballistic fire, like the kind that had nearly killed him.

The pyre fell away like a bunch of ashes fall off the end of a cigarette.

He floated to the ground, and lifted his hands,both of his palms igniting with 3 foot pillars of flames.

He understood just then.

He was a Phoenix, somehow...his girl form had turned into a Phoenix?!

"Zelda...equals...Phoenix..." he heard his voice say, and then smiled sadistically at Din.

"And it's time to fight fire with fire!" he cried, taking a fighting pose, the swords drawing without his realizing it.

"Wha? But I don't use weapons...most of the time." Ranma complained.

" _But I do..."_Zelda corrected. "_Sorry, Ranma, this is my fight. But I would appreciate it if you helped out."_

Ranma rolled his eyes, "Help out? You mean do all the work? Ok."


	11. Chapter 10: The Torment of the Shadow

**Chapter 10: The Torment of the Shadow~**

Ranma had fought so many legions of warriors in his short life ,that he considered his whole life a fight, and was almost totally numb to how cruel his opponent could be.

That was until this fight.

Zelda came spinning into the battle, swords slashing wormholes into the very air around them by their superheated blades, and these vacuums in thin air began to inhale the fire from Din's aura, and make it go out.

Ranma may be immune to flame, but it didn't mean he couldn't feel the pain. Tired as he was of this intense heat, he decided just for the moment, he was going to split from his for once literally smoking hot girl form, and he cried through Zelda's lips, "_MOKO TAKABISHA!" _ using his ki attack to split his forms into two halves. His boy form was thus breathed out of Zelda's flaming lips, like when one's dying breath gives up the ghost, and for a moment he was a pillar of smoke, before he solidified mid-air as his boy self.

He rolled over in mid-air, spinning like a falcon swooping for the kill, and did his "chestnuts roasting on an open fire" attack, straight downwards, aiming for Din's face.

His fists collided with nothing ,however, but walls of poisoned glass. He felt his whole face contort in an expression of confusion, as the more he beat downwards, the more Din's image refracted, so that she was everywhere, all at once, surrounding him, turning her fire rod to her lip like Happosai would his pipe. Ranma felt himself trying to "hit the brakes" digging his heels into mid-air.

But the poisoned glass had stung him deep, crawling into every inch of him like a needle does the body of a cloth doll. Suddenly his vision began to blur. Lights grew 70 thousand times brighter than the sun.

Din breathed against her rod, and began to spin a terrible fire tornado, that shattered the glass until it was confetti, rolling rapids of nothing but glass shards, turning purple with tiny droplets razor shaved into shards of drops of Ranma's blood.

Ranma began to grow dizzy. Maybe this was death instead, floating downwards into a white noise abyss.

And then out of the shrapnel that began to wail hollowly with the harmonics off the glass, burst none other than the stone thick-skinned Hibiki Ryoga.

For once, Ranma could honestly say he was glad to see him.

Ryoga held his body out like a shield, not really attacking, for some reason just waiting, taunting Din with his eyes. Now Ranma could see why.

Akane was there in the middle of the fight, posed and focused, ready to take down the demon that tried to sacrifice her fiancé on a skyscraper sized funeral pyre.

Ranma could kick himself for her being here, even if it wasn't his fault. Looked like Ryoga could cover her for now. But what was he supposed to do? He was bleeding to death, and was probably poisoned, how he didn't know exactly, it was subtle and different than anything he had ever felt before.

Suddenly, he felt Link's hand on his shoulder.

"Not to worry, Son of Genma...The poison Din uses on her walls of glass, is nothing more than the spirits of the Dead woven into her Eternal Damning Fire. They can't kill you, it will only drain your very soul, and so drain your ki force."

Ranma turned to look at Link, the boy never really having spoken to him directly before now. He was dizzy and confused, possibly dying , and for all he knew Link could be a figment of his imagination. But there was a paleness about Link that only an undeath can render, and his eyes were very clear with purpose. Link had already made up his mind that he was going to win this fight.

"I've got this." the Prince gasped, and Ranma watched, in disbelief, as Link drew an arrow from his sheath, and drove it deep into his own heart, gasping with a boy's voice in terrible dying pain, and then growling like a wolf.

"Son of Genma...do me a favor...And beat me up."

"What?"

"Wake my demons...Attack me."

Ranma didn't know if he was hearing the boy clearly. He thought he was hallucinating when the arrow came back from the journey to his sick heart, drenched black as night in blood.

Blindly, Ranma leaped into the air, and dove down on Link doing a series of kick attacks gracefully straight into the back ridges of his spine.

There began to be a shrieking like when a car slams its breaks ,coming right from Link's bones.

He wheeled about, and shouted Din's name, and she turned.

In one fluid motion Link shot Din straight between the eyes with the blood dipped arrow. The Goddess froze.

Akane took the advantage she was looking for, sprung out from behind Ryoga, and flung herself at Din, landing a series of blows directly in her belly.

But she bounced off like she was a doll. Din had turned to stone.

"SPIRIT OF ALL UNHOLY THINGS WOVEN INTO THE FABRIC OF MY SOUL, THE TAPESTRY OF MY DAMNATION!" Link called, voice taking on a scary depth.

"_We'll have to work as one for this part." _Zelda whispered into Ranma's mind, and with a soft , "Hup!" sound she fused him to herself as one, making Phoenix Sheik appear, the white blonde ninja, now with wings of fire.

"I COMMAND YOU FROM OUT OF THE DEPTHS OF MY BLOOD, ENTER NOW INTO DIN, AND FEAST ON HER SOUL!" Link shouted, voice suddenly great like thunder, shattering all the glass shards into nothing.

There was a gurgling like demons rising out of nothingness, and there was suddenly a wicked laughter, and blood began to bubble up from the ground, and crawl like worms off the thin ar, quivering with ecstasy as it made its way to Din's mouth, and crawled inside her.

"YES, MASTER!" said the terrible twisted voice of the Shadow that Ranma had fought in the forest.

Din began to quake, and an earthquake shook the very bones of Tokyo surrounding the little village area about the Dojo Tendo. Ranma's teeth were set on edge, and he felt his fingernails curl in on themselves, his blood had grown so cold.

"Please..." Din begged,"Please, Prince of Shadows...have mercy."

Suddenly an even deeper version of Link's voice, a growling, mechanical voice, the voice of the Wolf said,

"No...It's too late...To beg for mercy for what you have done. The shadow is out of my veins...Nothing can save you now."

There was a shrieking as the shadow rose up , in the shape of a huge vampire bat, but hollow as if only its shadow, nestled like an infant on Din's chest, and it began to drink the blood from her throat, like a baby nurses.

Din howled in her damnation, and suddenly Link gave a low growling groan, and hit his knees, making a more human gasping sound.

Then he threw back his head, and began to wail like a man who just watched his entire family die. He wailed, like a damned spirit begging the heavens for a mercy he knew full well he would not receive.

He stood to his feet, and lit on fire from the inside out, and turned to a pillar of charcoal, and ashes, before their eyes, shrieking inhumanly at the sky.

" YOU ARE A GODDESS?! YOU ARE A WITCH OF TERRIBLE POWER?! LOOK HOW I'VE RUINED YOU! NOW ALL OF YOUR DEEDS ARE LAID BARE IN MY GAUNT RUIN NOTHING! NOW YOU ARE MADE NAKED BEFORE THE FLAME OF MY EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT!"

He began to stagger towards the stone pillar Din.

"PRAY TO YOUR FIRE, DO YOU THINK IT WILL SAVE YOU?! BEG IT FOR MERCY! BEG ME FOR MERCY ,DOWN ON YOUR KNEES!"

The statue Din crumbled, quaking ,praying, crying like a little girl, leaving puddles of tears on the ground.

"FOOL! YOUR FIRE IS WROTH WITH YOU, FOR YOU HAVE NOT BEEN A KIND MISTRESS! FOOL, NOW I WILL GIVE FIRE VENDETTA! NOW I WILL PUNISH YOU FOR THE SINS I MUST SWALLOW. THIS MY RESENTMENT; BECAUSE OF YOU MY DAMNATION DEEPENS!"

And with that, Link changed. His spine exploded, and out of it, stood spikes of jagged stone, that folded in on themselves, and twisted, and wrung themselves free of his soul,which fell in torrents of rain to the ground, and lighting burst from them, and a cloud of thunderous hail, and clouds rose up in the shapes of white smoke horses that trampled Din's armies, and made them die and burn up in instant, total combustion. Then rose from the wake great wings like the wings of a raven, dyed purpled_red black and dripping his own blood. He was a whole head and shoulders taller, bleached white, and down his face streamed tears of blood, and war paint, and his armor was the very frost beaten into steel hard plates.

"The Fierce Deity, the White Demon!" shouted Cologne from somewhere across the battlefield.

" _Impa?!" _Zelda shouted into Ranma's mind.

"Who_or_wha?" Ranma asked, this situation spinning way too fast for his poison slurred mind.

" _Mine and Link's nanny from when we were little. My father's second wife. You call her Cologne?...Her name is Impa."_

"Old ghoul is your nanny?!" Ranma gasped, and tried to move, to fight, to do SOMETHING, but the poison had left him in an elysium haze, and he couldn't even walk, could only stand there dreamily, trying to process what he was seeing.

As the Fierce White Demon with the HUGE sword, dove on Din, and drove his blade repeatedly into her heart, slashing her to bits, and feasting on her insides.

Till Cologne leaped into the center of the fight with a golden chain.

"Link, son! Come back to the Light!" she cried, striking him down with the chain.

He fell to his knees, reaching into his center, and pulling out his ribs, beating them on the ground, as on his breastplate, the Eye of Truth was weeping blood.

Phoenix Sheik mastered the poison in Ranma's veins just then, and propelled himself into the air with an eagle's cry, striking both hands together in a V shape above his head, and suddenly a rainbow appeared over his head, and gathered an edge like a blade, that he spun, and using Ranma's "chestnuts roasting on an open fire" technique again, began to beat against the ground , like the front of a snow plow.

It mowed over the White Demon, and his victim, crunching what remained of Din into chalky thin dust.

The White Demon was on his knees, cracking up like a porcelain doll, a hand trying to shield his face from the light.

Cologne began to spin the chain like a lasso over her head, and then roped the White Demon with it, pulling it tighter and tigther, until with a bird like croak, the demon shattered.

There in the ashes, on his face, laid Link as just himself, distinctive green samurai tunic, and funny shaped hat, yew bow and all.

Saotome Ranma had never in all his life taken one look at someone, and wanted to save them as badly as he did right at that moment...


	12. Chapter 11: A Prince Worth Following

**Chapter 11: A Prince Worth Following~**

The dust settled and the smoke cleared. Somehow the rest of Tokyo had slept through this entire battle in high places.

Now it seemed to the eyes of all those who knew her, that Cologne was changed in shape. She was young, no more than 30 years, and dressed like one of the warriors of the ancient Sheikah race, protectors of the Hylian royal family.

Shampoo came slipping out of the throngs of people who had witnessed all of this.

"Grandma? Look different, for sure."

Cologne turned to face her. "I'm not your grandmother, Shanpu. I am your mother. The story is a long and troubling one. But in another life, I was Queen Impa of the Hylians, a Princess of the House of Guardians, the wife of Ganon, King of the Hylians, the one we call the Master in our circle,Happosai..., I say your name because I want you to hear me... You are my daughter,Shanpu, my youngest child. My older children are the twin prince and princess, Link and Zelda, the Peace Children. And I would have been Queen in Hylia forever, and no nurse maid, had not a goddess and adultery ended my reign...And stolen the soul of my only son..."

She pointed down to the comatose boy laying in his own ashes.

"Wait. No understand. You mean demon boy is big brother? Tell truth now..."

Impa bowed her head, and the heavens began to cry. Zelda split forms from Ranma, and she ran forward, weeping bitterly, and fell down in a heap protectively kneeling over her brother's crumpled body.

Suddenly Kuno Kodachi also broke ranks.

"DEMON! THAT DEMON! HE BROUGH THIS UPON US!"

She started swinging her fists in the air, and suddenly Ranma moved without even blinking or forming thoughts, to use himself as a human shield against Kodachi's puny attacks, and whoever else would dare disturb the troubled dreamer.

"Talk about stupid! He just saved your worthless, dog meat lives! " Ranma spat, annoyed.

No sooner had the insulting words left his mouth, than he felt Akane crash into him like a boulder rolling off a mountain peak, and felt her lips fuse his shut. She kissed him so hard his eyes watered, and he felt his entire body flush tomato red, not really sure why he'd be so embarrassed,... she was his fiancée.

"You saved MY life, Ranma! Again! And Kasumi's life too!" she cried, hugging him so hard he made a loud choking chihuahua sound, and then laughed, hugging her awkwardly back. Even Ryoga was smiling at him, arms folded, and he nodded with a wink.

"Way to go, Saotome!"

Kasumi came, and gently kissed Ranma's cheek. He blushed again, confused. Yeah he had done awesome. But Link is really the one who had saved them all in the end...

"Zelda?!" he heard Link's voice gasp on a sudden.

"I'm here, brother!"

"Zelda, wait, no...don't get too close to me...I could...destroy you."

"You aren't a demon, Link. You are only wearing a demon's form, because of what Farore did to you...To all of us. We shall make Farore pay. You are going to lead us into battle against her."

Suddenly Zelda stood up, "BEFORE THE EYES OF THE MASTER!" she cried, and Ranma looked up and saw Happosai, now looking much younger himself, walk into the crowd,

"SHOW ME THE TRUE FORM OF LINK, PRINCE OF SHADOWS!"

She stretched forth her hand, and a golden light burst from it, and Ranma thought maybe it was her own life force attack.

The light hit Link, and instead of knocking him down, it baptised him in golden white light for a long moment.

And then before them all he stood, in armor as white as lighting, hair like white gold lighting, eyes like lighting and every time he looked at them it pulverized them.

He had a sword in his hands.

"Before it was the Master's sword...corrupted by the blood curse of the Goddess Farore...This was the Sword of the Prince, forged for him by Nayru herself, from the very heart of a star. That star she gave to Kasumi, so that it could live. The sword is Kasumi's soul, bound up in everlasting light, in goodness and purity eternal. That is why she wants to destroy Kasumi so badly,because the sword is sworn to her protection, and has the grace of the stars, only as long as Tendo Kasumi breathes. The sword is also the Soul of my Prince. Not a demon, Kuno Kodachi...No, but a dark angel of death...Kasumi's guardian angel, and the only one who can lift the curse that Ganon and Farore cast on us by their adultery."

Tendo Soun swallowed, meeting Link's eyes, "This is a story I think we should hear from beginning to end. Over dinner. The Prince our Leader will tell the whole thing."

Ranma came up to Link just then, and clapped an arm around his shoulders. Link looked at him in surprise, and everyone else did too. Usually Ranma made other boys his rivals. For once, and almost instantly, he had decided that this strange accursed boy was his friend.

"Heck, I'll follow this guy! It'd be stupid not to, did you see what he did to Din? Also, he's the only one who can call off the Shadow, and I hate that little freak more than I've ever hated anybody my entire life!"

"Well, that settles it then. Come on, sonny, you'll come into the Dojo and tell the whole sob story front to back, WITHOUT Happosai interrupting. Kasumi can make us some tea..." said Cologne ,who was really Impa, and they all crowded into the Dojo, Akane glueing herself to Ranma's side, and beaming. Everyone who saw her that day could swear she was actually glowing, though Ranma would never have noticed that about "uncute fiancée"...


	13. Chapter 12: The Legend of Peace Children

**Chapter 12: The Legend of Peace Children~**

Not more than an hour later they were all gathered in a circle in the center of the Dojo Tendo, with Link seated in a large arm-chair ,that looked like a throne, in front of them, ready now to tell his story.

Ranma thought that he looked like he belonged there. He also was amazed to find out how truly old Happosai and Cologne really were. He had known they were ancient, but they had made it sound like they were only a few hundred years old, maybe more.

Now it was looking like they were older than 1400 for certain. Link and Zelda were older than 1400 technically, though they had died as 17 year olds, and would forever remain 17.

Link bowed over his knees, lightning blue eyes filled with oceans of deep memory. Sorrow. Ranma could feel it emanating from him like a subtle life force attack.

Then he pulled forth a large robin's egg blue clay flute, that seemed to glow with some ethereal light, and raised it to his lips.

" _Ji No Uta..." _Zelda whispered to Ranma, and he understood.

Song of Time.

As they listened to the song, it seemed that an otherworldly wind began to blow. That there was a sound of oceans rising out of floods of Nayru's tears. That there was a sound of wars, ablaze with Din's fire.

That all of the ages were torn in two, by Farore's wind...

"This tale is true, and mine." Link whispered, into the music, the voice seeming to come from his mind, as on and on, he continued to play, the heart wrenching theme of the Song of Time.

" It tells, how they surrendered me to the waves of Nayru's tears...how they took me down to the Wolf's bones, how it was that I became a man, and was rendered a man no more in the same hour.

I am the male Peace Child. This is my story:

In the days before the history of man is recorded, in the days when the mountains of China raised their necks a little higher, and Japan was a jewel in the crown of deeper seas, my people lived in a kingdom of the Sky. It was called Hylia, because it was set on the high heavens, enshrouded by clouds, and upon that firmament sat a new heaven and a new earth. There were the mountains of the 3 sisters, the 3 queens of the heavens, and dominion over the realm of the Sky Kingdom was given to them by the High God ,Who made all things.

The name of the eldest was Nayru, and she was wisest, and had the purest of hearts. Her love was given to star light, and she shepherded the tides of the heavens.

The name of the next was Din, and fury and judgment were given to her, and mastery over fire. She dwelt in that mountain called Death, where once the Phoenix dancers dwelt, in the days before Man was born, before Adam first breathed.

And the name of the youngest was Farore, whose heart was unattainable, and her will was like the bitter northern winds.

So it was that my father, Ganon, was king in Hylia in the days of long ago, and Impa the Princess of the Sheikah was his Queen, and I was his only son, and he had two daughters, my twin sister Zelda, and Shanpu the younger born. And she was born too late, for Ganon's heart had strayed from his queen and from his kingdom in those days...

For it is as I said; Farore was as harsh and untamed, cruel and temperamental as the bitter wind. And she looked down from her place in the clouds, and saw the kingdom of Hylia, and purposed in her heart that it would be her possession; though by every right it was my inheritance; I was the only heir.

And knowing this, she purposed in her heart that she would take it from me by one way or by the other.

So it was, that she came down from the highest places, on a day when my father was hunting the great Wild Boar of the Golden Mountains Three. And she cast herself upon the tusks of the great beast, knowing that my father the king was mighty enough to save her.

When he ran to the snout of the Great Boar to see what an evil thing was done to this damsel, he found her alive and enchantingly beautiful. She pledged her very soul to him for saving her, that day, and so put a spell of seduction upon him.

So it was that my mother was carrying the warrior princess Shanpu in those days...And great joy was stirring in the kingdom that another child would soon be born to the Royal Family.

Nayru prepared her star to bless the life of Ganon's offspring, and my sister Zelda and I were pledged to her house to be her students, and so let her wisdom pass to our kingdom.

But on the long-awaited day of the birth of the youngest princess, the king was not to be found. And so great was my mother's distress, that she lay dying in labor.

So it was that my mother's handmaiden, the Kokiri sage by the name of Saria, went into the Lost Woods, in search of my father, wondering what evil should have befallen him on his hunt.

Only to find that the spell of that lost and evil place, and of the Witch's own seduction, had lead him astray, straight to the bedchamber of Farore.

Saria was so distressed by the things that she saw done in that place, that she cried out.

When Farore realized that her deception was known, she was filled with great rage, and cursed my father so that he became the Great Boar, and he went running wild upon the plain, forever her whore and puppet after that.

And yet my mother lived, and Shanpu was born, but there was no song, nor laughter that day, neither did any joyful voice echo into that place, for it was known that Ganon the King of Hylia, bearer of the Crown of Power, had broken the everlasting covenant between the High God and the Queens, and the Kingdom of Hylia, not to let his light be darkened, nor to ever deal with a twisted eye.

And so it was that the Boar ran free on the plain, and an open war began to rise up, such as has never entered the history of men, and never shall again enter ours. For all the Kingdom raged against its king, who under the Witch's curse, destroyed their homes, and brought darkness where he swore to uphold light.

As for Farore, she chased after the Boar and provoked him with a bitter wind, for their was only one way my father could atone for his sin, and so break his curse, and bring the Peace.

He must sacrifice his only heir. His oldest child. And because his oldest children were twins, born on the same day, he must sacrifice not one child, but two, a boy and a girl, and so balance both sides of the scales of the Bleeding Eyes.

Because we loved our father, even for what he had done, and because we wanted Peace, for we feared for our little sister, still a newborn baby, and for our mother, who was weary with war and taking care of a newborn child, Zelda and I gave ourselves up to be sacrificed...

But on the evening before I should be sacrificed, to fulfill her wish to have my birthright, Farore drowned a wolf in the accursed spring that was to be my tomb. Now when I drowned, rather than die, I would take on the body of this wolf shape, and so be her slave, created for the purpose of killing my father Ganon.

The day that we were sacrificed went as it was meant to. We both struggled greatly against poisoned waters, and great foam of gasping breath, and bleeding tears went up. The wrath of the broken covenant was appeased. The war of Sheikan legend was ended.

Zelda remained sleeping in her tomb for almost 1400 years after that day, until Saotome Ranma fell into it, and took on her form. But I awoke from my eternal slumber that night, in the body of a wolf, on a suicide mission to slay the Great pig, who had cast himself into the Pool of Drowning Pig_"

(By this time, Ryoga had blanched...)

"_To cast off that accursed form. Though my father Ganon no longer wore the skin of the Boar, he still bore its scent. The wolf was bred by the Witch in his life to be a swine hunter, and if there is swine, he must slay..

(Now Ranma was giving Ryoga concerned looks...)

" I hunted my father in madness, and he, now accursed, and cast down from his throne, wandered the world, ever setting up traps, and ruses, and plans to stop me from ending his life, while at the same time seeking to reclaim the throne he unworthily cast aside. I would have destroyed him, or he would have destroyed me, had not Nayru taken pity on my undeath, and sent me a phantom of Zelda as a child, bearing the magic flute of Nayru, the Flute of Time.

Enchanted by the image of my sister ,who had by this time long been in her watery grave, I took many quests to save her, or to do her wish, all the while and unbeknownst to me, fulfilling Nayru's plans to bind myself and my father into the fabric of time. So doing we could not escape (except from aid of outside hand) our own curse; neither could we bring our destruction, or Farore's bitter wind into the world of the living, because it was woven into the very shadows of time, and never enters anywhere other than dreams, and never crosses blades nor moons with your living history.

By and by , and by the phantom of my sister, I was lead to the sword of benevolence that Nayru forged for me. Once I drew it from the pedestal, all of her will was released into the world, and so it was predestined that the curse could be broken from the actual current of time, when the world was made ready for it.

All was made ready then, the Great Flood was prepared in heaven to be released to wash away all evils the war had brought. Nayru placed her star upon the baby Tendo Kasumi, who had not yet been born, but whose birth would signal the Dawn of Redemption for our race.

But Nayru's very best laid plans could not account for Farore entering the Temple of Time, where the Sword of Nayru was kept, in the form of Ganondorf, a half-form creature fused of her soul, and the soul of my father.

Farore my cruel mistress then put her curse upon the sword, making it her own, making it the rod of my command. Knowing what she had done, and that all was lost in time, for she now had access to all that Nayru had done to achieve this redemption, I sliced my hand open upon her accursed blade, making my blood bound to the curse, and the curse to me.

And so I sent myself, using the Magic flute, back into the past, and present, and future, reliving the Farore alternates of the history I already knew, drawing her curse into my alternate self, into my shadow. And so she would be the Master of the Sword, but I would be the Sword's Master, for it was made for me, and only I can truly wield it, curse or no curse.

And so I became the White Demon, the terrible blessing and accursed thing that you beheld today. And only I can break the curse of Farore and Ganon, for I have made myself the curse, you see.

I shall lead you to war against her, draw out the very dregs of her ill will against your people for harboring Nayru's blessing and sign ,in the life of Tendo Kasumi. I will draw the curse into myself, in many great battles,... with your help I will do this. And then..." he swallowed, "Either I will gain the mastery over the curse once and for all...and use it against my mistress, or ,if I find reason, I will use the curse to destroy myself and itself, for it is me and I am it; I have made myself the curse..."

There was resounding silence just then.

Slowly Saotome Ranma stood.

"Whatever this takes, however this ends...count me in!"

And one by one the others followed suit.

Akane noticed Happosai leaving the room, then. Or not Happosai...Ganon. The disgraced king disguised as the pervert sensei ...Ashamed of the terrible ending that he had already written into history for his only heir.

It would be sad, maybe, if she wasn't so angry for all the trouble he'd caused everyone. Him, and Genma too.

By the way, where was Genma?


End file.
